European Court of Justice keeps PKK on terror list

BRUSSELS/ANKARA (Rahnuma): European Court of Justice on Thursday ruled to keep the PKK on EU’s terror list.

Concluding a legal case opened by the terrorist organization, the subsidiary court ruled that while the group had been kept on the list due to procedural errors between 2014 and 2017, new legal measures by the Council of Europe stipulated that it must remain there still.

The PKK had applied to the court in May 2014 in order to be relieved of the restrictions placed upon it due to the terror attacks it had carried out.

It has been on the EU terror list since 2002.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU — has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women and children.

Meanwhile, the EU delegation to Turkey said in a statement: “The decision on the listing of the PKK by the General Court of the EU does not change anything. PKK still remains in the terrorist organizations list of the EU,” the statement added.